Comments on: Anti-Intellectualism in American Life http://www.frumforum.com/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life Building a conservatism that can win again Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:50:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Steve D http://www.frumforum.com/anti-intellectualism-in-american-life/comment-page-1#comment-322147 Steve D Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:07:49 +0000 #comment-322147 Humans in general are anti-intellectual. Just as most people enjoy a walk but few train for a marathon, most people enjoy a little intellectual stimulation but few are deeply committed to inquiry. As bad as it can be in America, look at the ossification of traditional societies where ignorant elders are deemed superior to informed youth. We have the tragedy that no civilization in history has supported learning like the West, but most people choose not to indulge in it, and even disdain it. "Nobody likes a show-off" because they resent being confronted with real excellence. Furthermore, they resent the fact that excellence confers rewards. Rhodes Scholar Clinton had to dumb himself down in public; what a degrading fact, not just for him but even more so for us. The last thing our society wants is a real meritocracy. Just look at the scorn, and sometimes even violence, heaped on people who are willing to work for lower wages or work longer hours. If people were as innately curious as many optimists like to believe, anti-intellectualism would be considered a form of mental illness, as undesirable and stigmatized as impotence. The alleged "inquisitiveness" of children is superficial. The tragedy of our society is not that most people outgrow their childlike sense of wonder, but that most do not. More on this at http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/WhyAntiInt.htm Humans in general are anti-intellectual. Just as most people enjoy a walk but few train for a marathon, most people enjoy a little intellectual stimulation but few are deeply committed to inquiry. As bad as it can be in America, look at the ossification of traditional societies where ignorant elders are deemed superior to informed youth. We have the tragedy that no civilization in history has supported learning like the West, but most people choose not to indulge in it, and even disdain it. “Nobody likes a show-off” because they resent being confronted with real excellence. Furthermore, they resent the fact that excellence confers rewards. Rhodes Scholar Clinton had to dumb himself down in public; what a degrading fact, not just for him but even more so for us. The last thing our society wants is a real meritocracy. Just look at the scorn, and sometimes even violence, heaped on people who are willing to work for lower wages or work longer hours.

If people were as innately curious as many optimists like to believe, anti-intellectualism would be considered a form of mental illness, as undesirable and stigmatized as impotence. The alleged “inquisitiveness” of children is superficial. The tragedy of our society is not that most people outgrow their childlike sense of wonder, but that most do not.

More on this at http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/WhyAntiInt.htm

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